THE 8TH HABITFrom Effectiveness to Greatness

By: Stephen R. Covey

The PAIN, The PROBLEM, The SOLUTION

• The world, though, is a vastly changed place. The challenges and complexity we all face un out relationships, families, professional lives, and communities are of an entirely new order of magnitude.

• Being effective as individuals and organizations is no longer merely an option – survival in today’s world requires it. But in order to thrive, innovate, excel and lead in what Covey calls the Knowledge Worker Age, we must build on and move beyond effectiveness. The call of this new era in human history is for greatness; it’s fulfillment, passionate execution, and significant contribution.

• Accessing the higher levels of human genius and motivation in today’s new reality requires a sea change in thinking: a new mind-set, and new skill-set, a new tool-set – in short, a whole new habit.

The 8th Habit shows how to solve such common dilemmas as:

• People want peace of mind and good relationships, but also want to keep their lifestyle and habits.

• Relationships are built on trust, but most people think more in terms of “me” – my wants, my needs, my rights.

• Management wants more for less; employees want more of “what’s in it for me” for less time and effort.

• Business are run by the economic rules of the marketplace; organizations are run by the cultural rules of the workplace.

• Society operates by its dominant social values, but must live with the consequences of the inviolable operation of natural laws and principles.

The PAIN

People become dissatisfied with their jobs for various reasons. These reasons include stress, pressure, terrible bosses, feelings of frustration, and a host of other things. Overworked, underpaid and under-appreciated employees end up affecting the productivity and effectiveness of an organization adversely.

The PROBLEM

Our basic management practices come from the Industrial Age. These include:

The belief that you must control people; Our view of accounting (People are an expense; machines are assets.) The carrot-and-stick motivational philosophy; and Centralized budgeting, which creates hierarchies and bureaucracies.

New developments in technology and globalization have ushered in changes in the way people think and operate.

The 20th century was known as the Industrial age. As the new millennium unfolds, civilization is now moving towards a new age – the age of information or the Knowledge Worker Age. This is where the problem begins.

This paradigm leads to a culture of co-dependency and compliancy. In this culture, a worker loses his voice because he believes that his views are not significant enough.

The SOLUTION

Find your voice:Recognize and develop your true nature.Express your voice through vision, discipline,

passion and conscience.

Inspire others to find their own video. Live and set an example of what you have learned.

Find Your Voice

Discover your voice – unopened birth-gifts

• Each individual is born with the potential to be great. What you do with this potential is up to you. You must remember that the more you use and expand your present talents, the more capacity you are given, and the greater your ability becomes.

Freedom and power to choose.

-You have the power to direct your own life based on your values.

Natural laws or principles.

-These are universal, timeless, inarguable principles that transcend culture and geography. These principles include

kindness, fairness, and honesty.

Four intelligences/capacities

Mental Intelligence (IQ)

Physical Intelligence (PQ)

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Spiritual Intelligence (SQ)

THREE MOST IMPORTANT GIFTS

You can develop the four intelligences by assuming…

1. For the mind – assume that the half-life of your profession is two years; now prepare accordingly.

2. For the body – assume that you have a heart attack; now live accordingly.

3. For the heart – assume that everything you say about another can be overheard; now speak accordingly.

4. For the spirit – assume that you have to attend a one-on-one meeting with God every quarter; now live accordingly.

Express your voice – vision, discipline, passion and conscience.

All great achievers have expanded their four innate human intelligences and capacities into:

1. Vision (mental)Seeing with your mind what is possible in yourself, in people, causes endeavors, and enterprises.2. Discipline (physical)Commitment – bringing vision into reality.

Express your voice – vision, discipline, passion and conscience.

3. Passion (emotional)It is the fire or the drive that sustains the discipline to achieve the vision.

4. Conscience (spiritual)The guiding force – the moral compass of what is right and wrong.

These expressions represent the highest means of expressing your voice.

THE ILLUSTRATION BELOW REPRESENTS A WHOLE PERSON WITH FOUR BASIC NEEDS AND FOUR CAPACITIES AND THE HIGHEST MANIFESTATIONS, ALL REPRESENTING THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF VOICE.

Whole Person Four Needs Four Capacities Four Abilities Voice

Body To live PQ Discipline Need

Mind To learn IQ Vision Talent

Heart To love EQ Passion Passion

Spirit To live a legacy SQ Conscience Conscience

INSPIRE OTHERS TO FIND THEIR VOICE

Inspiring others to find their voice – the leadership challenge.• Leadership is defined as communicating to people their worth

and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. In other words, a leader inspires others to develop their potential and be the best they can be.

Management and LeadershipLeadership and management are both important in an organization. In fact, one can not be effective without the other. You must, however, learn to differentiate between the two.

Leaders enable a person to be the be the best that he could possibly be. Leaders empower people. Managers, on the other hand, run corporations. Managers organize.

CHRONIC AND ACUTE PROBLEMS

An organization, like a person, has two kinds of problems – the chronic (continuing, underlying and casual) and the acute (painful, symptomatic and debilitating).

Above are ways on predicting four chronic problems of an organization and their acute symptoms.

Chronic Problems Acute Symptoms

Spirit Low trust Backbiting, in-fighting, defensiveness, information hoarding

Mind/Vision No shared vision Hidden agendas, playing political games, using different criteria in decision making

Body No alignment/discipline in organization structure

Misalignment with employees, marketplace and suppliers, interdepartmental rivalry

Heart Disempowerment Boredom, fear, anger, apathy, moonlighting

Leadership response (four roles of leadership)

1. Modeling (conscience/spirit): setting a good example.

2. Pathfinding (vision/mind): jointly determine the course.

3. Aligning (discipline/body): set up and manage a system to stay in course.

4. Empowering (passion/heart): focus on results, get out of people’s way, give advice when requested.

Focus – modeling and pathfinding

The voice of influence – be a trim tab The center of any leadership method is

modeling. Modeling is not the work of a sole individual. Rather, it must be the job of the entire team. Group identification is based in involvement, whether directly or indirectly.

What is a trim-tab? A trim-tab is a “rudder on the rudder” of a ship.

It is what makes it easier to turn the rudder, and, in turn, easier and quicker to turn the ship.

Seven levels of initiative or self-empowerment

1. Wait until you are told.2. Ask.3. Make a recommendation.

Five basic steps to making a recommendation: Step one: analyze the problem. Step two: come up with alternative and recommended solutions. Step three: develop recommended steps to execute the solutions. Step four: incorporate an awareness of all realities. Step five: make a recommendation in a way that only requires approval by a single

signature.

4. I intend to.5. Do it and report immediately.6. Do it and report periodically.7. Do it.

The voice of trustworthiness – modeling character and competence.

A leader’s character can make or break an organization. A person with integrity and one who is trusted by his peers and employees will be seen as a good leader.

Trustworthiness is an important factor in any relationship – personal and professional. It is the glue that holds together a family and an organization.

Personal trustworthiness• Trustworthiness comes from character and competence. There

are three aspects of character that build trustworthiness:

1. Integrity: you incorporate principles and natural laws when dealing with people. You are honest and you keep promises made to yourself and to others.

2. Maturity: you can deal with difficult issues with compassion.3. Abundance mentality: you see life as full of opportunities.

You don’t compare yourself with others and you are sincerely happy for other people’s success.

The three aspects of competence are

1. Technical competence: the skill and knowledge required to finish a task.

2. Conceptual knowledge: the ability to see the big picture.

3. Interdependency: the awareness that everything in life is interconnected.

Modeling is living The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

1. Be proactive.

2. Begin with the end in mind.

3. Put first things first.

4. Think win-win.

5. Seek first to understand, than to be understood.

6. Synergize.

7. Sharpen the saw.

The voice of speed and trust• Seeking to expand the circle of influence and inspiring others to find their voice means that you to build strong relationships. The higher the trust one earns, the easier it would be for you to communicate with people.

Blending voices – searching for the third alternative• The Win-Win mind set is the principle behind the third alternative. It is not important for both parties to think win-win. Only one party has to believe in this mind set. That one party must prepare the other party by practicing empathy and deep listening until the other party feels trust.

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The table above illustrates what Covey calls the Emotional Bank Account. These ten key deposits or withdrawals can either destroy or build relationships.

Deposits Withdrawals Sacrifice Required Internalized Principles

Seek first to understand Seek first to understand Impatience, ego, your agenda

Mutual understanding

Keeping Promises Breaking Promises Moods, feelings, emotions, time

Integrity/execution

Honesty, openness Smooth manipulation Ego, arrogance, control Vision/values, integrity/execution, mutual understanding

Kindness, courtesies Unkindness, discourtesies Self-time, perception, stereotypes, prejudices

Vision/values, integrity/execution

Win-win or no deal thinking Win-lose or lose-win thinking

‘Winning means to beat” competitiveness

Mutual respect/benefit

Clarifying expectations Violating expectations Kiss-up style communication

Mutual respect/benefit mutual understanding, creative cooperation, renewal

Loyalty to the absent Disloyalty, duplicity Some social acceptance, heart message

Vision/values, integrity/execution

Apologies Pride, conceit, arrogance Ego, arrogance, pride, time Vision/values, integrity/execution

Receiving feedback and giving “I” messages

Not receiving feedback and giving “you” messages

Ego, arrogance, pride, reactive communication

Mutual understanding

Forgiveness Holding grudges Pride, self-centeredness Vision/values, integrity/execution

The skill set of searching for the third alternative

O The most important skill in life is communication and this can be broken down into four categories – reading, writing, speaking and listening. Of the four, listening represents 40 to 50 percent of communication time. Unfortunately, only a miniscule percentage of people have been trained formally on how to listen.

O Below are the five levels of listening:1. Ignoring.2. Pretending to listen.3. Selective listening.4. Emphatic listening.5. Attentive listening.

THE AGE OF WISDOM

The 8th Habit gives you the key to understand and unleash both your own potential and the potential of the other people around you. As a review, you must remember what part each role plays and their importance.

1. Modeling2. Pathfinding3. Aligning4. Empowering

Six Core Drivers to Execution

1. Clarity2. Commitment3. Translation4. Enabling5. Synergy6. Accountability

The four disciplines of execution

1. Focus on the wildly important.

2. Create a compelling scoreboard.

3. Translate lofty goals into specific action.

4. Hold each other accountable all of the time.

The seven habits you have learned from Stephen Covey’s previous book are still irrelevant. However, the Knowledge Worker Age calls for the need of an 8th Habit that can help you further in your journey towards personal and organizational excellence.

Final words

THE END